Carmelo Anthony returns to Oklahoma City as a Rockets...

1of 3Although Carmelo Anthony isn’t a starter with the Rockets, it isn’t long into a game before he’s at the scorer’s table, waiting to check in.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

2of 3Houston Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony (7) during the first quarter of the NBA game against the LA Clippers at Toyota Center on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Before fans in many arenas get settled in their seats, Carmelo Anthony routinely walks to the scorer’s table, waiting for a dead ball rather than the opening tip, to take his place on the court.

When it happens early in the first quarter Thursday night, Oklahoma City’s punctual fans will no doubt notice not just the familiar face but that Anthony is serving as the Rockets’ sixth man, a role he so vehemently asserted he did not want with the Thunder.

How they’ll react to that, and his latest reunion with a former team, is uncertain, but they will surely react. Regardless, Anthony pledged he will arrive with appreciation for how he was treated when he played for the Thunder.

His time in Oklahoma City was brief, just one season that ended with a first-round playoff loss. It was in many ways unsatisfying as Anthony scored fewer points per game (16.7) than he had throughout his career, though more than he has averaged this season (14.2).

Still, his time with the Thunder is fresh enough for Anthony to know playing in Oklahoma City for the first time with the Rockets will not be just another game. It won’t, however, bring the sense of nostalgia from his return to Denver or the raw emotion of his return to New York.

“Going back to New York was a little different last year,” Anthony said. “In Denver, it was a little different because that next year was a lockout, so we didn’t get a chance to go back to Denver. I didn’t go back to Denver for another year, year and a half. Some time went by when I was able to kind of just settle into New York. Going back to Denver will always be special because that’s where it all started for me.

“Going back to OKC, that held a special place because that was the kind of organization, the team, the community that opened their arms up to me last year, brought me in, took me in. I really felt part of that community last year.”

When Anthony returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time, he was mostly cheered in introductions and then booed throughout the game. He said that return was emotional — mostly because the Knicks did not achieve their goals during his 6½ seasons in New York — but he did not take offense at the booing.

“They can’t cheer for me. I’m on another team,” Anthony said that night. “They’re cheering for their team. They boo for the other team. That’s something that I expected.”

Anthony described his relationship with New York as “deeper than basketball.” It would be difficult to have that kind of connection with Oklahoma City after seventh months, but there is an appreciation for the experience of playing there.

“I think it’s a great atmosphere, whether you’re home or an away team,” Anthony said. “You want to be a part of atmosphere like that, where the fans are in tune to the game from the second that you walk into the arena to the game. That energy is just different. If you’re a competitor, you have to just love that type of atmosphere.”

Despite that, his departure seemed certain nearly as soon as last season ended. Anthony waived the no-trade clause in his contract to allow the Thunder to send him to the Hawks, with the understanding Atlanta would buy out the $27.9 million left on his contract, allowing him to sign with the Rockets as a free agent.

With the Rockets, he has accepted and perhaps even embraced his role off the bench. He had never come off the bench in his first 15 seasons in the NBA, but he signed with the Rockets knowing he likely would have a role with them he did not want with the Thunder.

“Yeah, I’m not sacrificing no bench role (to stay in Oklahoma City),” Anthony said after the Thunder were eliminated last spring. “So that’s out of the question. I think everybody knows that I’ve sacrificed kind of damn near everything.

“Family, moving here by myself, sacrificed my game for the sake of the team, and was willing to sacrifice anything and everything in order for this situation to work out.”

He has called coming off the bench for the Rockets a challenge and an adjustment. But since James Ennis III returned from his strained hamstring, Anthony has flourished as a reserve, averaging 17.7 points on 57.1 percent shooting.

Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni believes having a more set rotation has helped. With Anthony, it is so clear when he will enter games that he usually leaves the stationary bicycle he rides at the start of each half after about three minutes, stands in front of the bench for a few possessions, and then gets ready to check in.

“We talk about it before, kind of when I want him to get in there,” D’Antoni said. “Sometimes I forget to get him in; he’s not going to forget. But we look at the game.

“He knows what to expect more. It helps everybody.”

On Thursday, it will help Thunder fans greet him. Less clear is whether they will welcome him. He won’t have to wait long to find out.

Jonathan Feigen has been the Rockets beat writer since 1998 and a basketball nut since before Willis Reed limped out for Game 7. He became a sports writer because the reporter that was supposed to cover the University of Delaware basketball team decided to instead play one more season of college lacrosse and has never looked back.

Feigen, who has won APSE, APME and United States Basketball Writers Association awards from El Campo to Houston, came to Texas in 1981 to cover the Rice Birds, was Sports Editor in Garland before moving to Dallas to cover everything from the final hurrah of the Southwest Conference to SMU after the death penalty.

After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1990, Feigen has covered the demise of the SWC, the rise of the Big 12 and the Rockets at their championship best.